Wednesday, April 14, 2010

It is time for change!

By Chris Aveta

I am running for a seat on the Middletown Board of Education because I believe that the incumbents have lost touch with the priorities of education. They are taking too many resources out of the classroom while making only minimal cuts to the overabundance of administration.

It is time for change!

We need to elect people who have the courage, vision and intelligence to make decisions based solely on what is in the best interest of our children. We must demand that our leaders realize that the status quo is no longer acceptable nor sustainable. We must elect leaders who will get us back to the basics of education and raise the level of professional accountability for the benefit of our children.

All wasteful and non-essential spending must be stopped immediately. At the same time, we need to be mindful of the potential repercussions regarding the decisions we make with respect to the taxpayers and parents.

As a former Board of Education member, I completely understand and would fully accept this responsibility. As a parent and taxpayer, I strongly believe that we should expect nor accept anything less for our children. Thank you for your consideration on Tuesday, April 20th.

If you agree with my position, I am asking that you help support our campaign by placing a sign one of our signs on your front lawn. Also, I'm asking that you reach out to your friends and neighbors and ask them to support me and my running mates Vinnie Brand and Mike Mascone. Let’s try to get three existing members replaced by three new faces with fresh ideas.

Chris Aveta:

Married to Cathy, 13 years. 2 Children ~ Rose (10) & Christopher (8) Attend Middletown Village SchoolOccupation- Litigation Coordinator ~ Platzer, Swergold et al. NY, NY since 1995Member of the Carteret Board of Education (2003-2005)- Chairman of Finance Committee. MYAA Little League ~ Baseball Coach, Founding member of the Michael J. Valiant Foundation ~ dedicated to raising funds for adults and children with special needs with a primary focus on Autism Awareness ~ main benefactor Autism New Jersey

Wow anon 11:00 p.m. you must be part of the motley crew of Middletown Democrats who have made lying an art form. Didn't Chris Aveta run for BOE last year? I hardly think he stepped off the moving van with signed petitions. I'd say anytime you see people lying about you, they are nervous that your chances are too good.

Given the fiasco this TC has made with our finances and that mess with the football fields, the last place I'd want them to have more influence in is our schools! These people are after one thing- POWER! They have no interest in making our school system better, that's obvious!

I guess Fiore imported Vinny Brand into Middletown too? Ever come to think that people make their own decisions about running for positions?

According to his bio and his speech at the Middletown Republican candidate's night last year, Chris Aveta was a former Board of Education Member and the head of finance on the board. So what that it wasn't in Middletown. I've known him since our kids started going to school together at Village. I've also known Vinny Brand through soccer as he coached my daughter.

I agree that it's time for change. This board is out of control with it's priorities. Anyone hear of the Vice Principal of Physical education? It exists in Middletown.

Hey anon 12:19 - you say the town council has been "less than stellar in their fiscal management." Yet, I found the following on the township website:

"operating the township in as efficient and fiscally responsible manner as possible. It is this philosophy that has resulted in the township being named one of the top 100 places to live in the nation by Money Magazine; a stellar AA bond rating by Standard and Poor and Moody’s Investor Services who cited the township’s, “strong economy and employment base, high wealth and income indicators, combined with a steadily increasing tax base, sound financial operations, and rapid debt amortization;” a budgeting process that is used as a model for the State to follow, according to The New Jersey League of Municipalities, which included it as must reading in its “Elected Officials Handbook;” an annual audit by the respected firm of Ernst and Young of Middletown’s budget which resulted in a flawless rating and one of the smallest workforces and budget per capita in the entire state."

Are you disputing that, and if so, please enlighten me as to what is inaccurate? Believe me, I want to jump on incompetency, but if that statement is true, I'd say you are wrong and if you are wrong about that, well, then what else are you wrong about?

Even Democrats from other towns have to laugh at the Middletown Democrats. What a motley crew. Remember the guy who forged petitions? Or how about the guy who was arrested for stealing signs? How about the obscene e-mail Short sent to the woman on the council? These guys take lying to new heights. Remember the ad that ran last year when they said that the Republicans blackmailed their candidate into running? The list is endless.

Actually 5:31:00 PM, you are wrong - it was 2006 and 2008. And from what I gather, those were facts from the website, not opinion. All I asked was to point out where the factual inaccuracies were. No one has done it so I assume it is correct.

the only answer next week is for EVERYone, in EVERY town, to send a message and vote NO on all budgets,and on any stupid bonds for more expansion.. forget about the people for the Board,doesn't matter who wins, the budget'll go back to the councils, they'll lop off a few grand, nobody'll get hurt, but perhaps some of the superfluous nonsense will START to be slowed, if they all get that, now,we are all watching, every year!!

One of the incumbents has run as a Democrat candidate for Assembly (and lost) and then recently (2008) for the Middletown Township Committee (and lost when it was revealed she had pocketed $100,000 for personal expenses - see More Monmouth Musings October 15 and October 16, 2008)

I did a little checking into this group/person. The word around town is that the 3 guys running are fairly well tied to some of the people on the Middletown Town Council. I don't have a big problem with that, except I hear that the Town Council is looking to have more say over the Board of Ed. I don't think people should be voting in less qualified people just so it will make life easier for the Town Council. I think we should be voting on the best qualified person for the job. I guess using the word "job" is not right considering it is not a paid position.

This person/group who wrote this seems to think that the Middletown Board of Ed should be breaking the union. This is a very big fight, and it would need to be addressed at the state level. When the contract with the teachers was negotiated it was considered to be fair and comparable with other local teacher's union contract. The BOE did request that the teachers consider taking a pay freeze, the the local union leadership did not allow the teachers to take that vote. The union does have the right to work out their contract as written. I do think you will see some changes in the upcoming contract negotiations.

The idea that "you don't like how life is, so let's bring in all new people" is just crazy. The fact that our Real Estate taxes are tied to the quality of the education that our children receive is another broken system. This is not something that the BOE or the Town Council can fix. It must be dealt with in Trenton. We need people who are smart and dedicated, and they must have the children's needs at heart. I think the people on the BOE work very hard to do that. I question the dedication of some of the gentleman this person is recommending. Mascone did not show to the 1st Candidate Forum, nor did he even have the courtesy to respond that he would not be attending. Brand also did not attend the forum, but he sent a very long statement that did not really say much. Hard to know what you are really getting with them.

They also seem very concerned with the number of Administrators that the district has. They do plan to cut 7 (15%) with the proposed budget! These people have big job descriptions including curriculum, state testing, staff oversight & evaluations, student discipline, security, oversight of sports & clubs, etc. I am sure years ago you expected 1 vice principle to handle all the discipline for 1,500 students, and security was not a big issue. Times have changed. In a corporation of 1,500 employees, 10,000 daily guests/students and 17 buildings how many managers and Vice-Presidents would you expect to have?

One of the only things I do agree with them on is nobody wants their taxes going up. Unfortunately, New Jersey is in a fiscal crisis, and Governor Christie has forced large cuts everywhere. He decreased state aid to our school alone by 34%, and some schools lost all state funding. We all pay a lot of income tax to the State of NJ, so I personally have a hard time understanding how this is fair. Considering these drastic cuts the Board of Ed did their best to come up with the proposed budget.

Voting down the school budget on April 20th will still mean Middletown will lose 72.5 teachers positions, 7 Administrators, 20 Para professionals, etc.

If this budget fails, these cuts will still happen and even more will be cut. That means more teacher cuts and larger class sizes. Most likely all Middle School sports and clubs will be eliminated. Maybe the Freshman teams will be lost too. To stay on a sport you cannot miss too many days of school & you must keep your grades up. Not all kids are the perfect academic student by nature. We need ways to keep them interested in going to school and learning.

If BAM wants to break the union, as anon 8:46 states, then they are just what we need on the BOE. Also, maybe it would be good if the BOE and the town council worked closer for the betterment of the taxpayers. Someone once told me that the ever-loony Pat Walsh, a sitting BOE member, videotapes different members of the town council and then puts it up on her website with derogatory commentary. Does anyone think that fosters the kind of cooperation we need between the BOE, the biggest user of taxpayer dollars and the town council? Frankly, I'd rather have the BOE work closer with the town council than the NJEA. You've convinced me anon 8:46 - BAM it is!

BAM has no chance of breaking the union just as the current BOE has no chance. That's just a ridiculous comment to make.See if the Governor can break the union and work his magic. He's done a great job so far.

Just a little update: I am a happy to say that all the candidates have now been attending forums and PTA meetings around town. I think this is especially important for those candidates who are new to the BOE campaign. People need to get to know everyone before they can make an educated decision.

I am thrilled to announce that all candidates have said they support the budget.

It was a couple of years ago when Middletown made the Money Magazine list of Top 100 places to live. Do any of these posters know why?? To inform you all,it was because of the quality of the schools here and because of the availability of the "arts" facilities.

Now do you think Scharfey & Co and the rotten politics in this town contributed to that ?? I don't think so and I don't think these three political hacks are going to contribute anything to restoring this town to the list either. You can be sure the republican majority will not, They are too busy fiddling with taking care of all the cronies and trough swillers to conduct effective government.

This township was without a CFO for over a year,we still do not have a budget in place and we are already into almost half the year and we have a staggering deficit in the millions. Guess it is time for change... big time..... .carry change into November and "DUMP SCHARFEY also!!!!!!!

The TC should concentrate on running a fiscally responsible government in this township that represents every citizen that lives here. That has not been done in decades!!

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